On November 8, 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen obtained the first x-ray image. He X-rayed the hand of his wife, Bertha Roentgen, who even wore the wedding ring. Altogether, the process took 30 minutes to complete and was registered as a great achievement  of medicine. The doctor received the Nobel Prize for the discovery.

It was then that the commemoration of the International Day of Radiology (IDoR) was established. Every year, the celebration gains a theme and, in 2021, it is Interventional Radiology: Active Care for the Patient.

Facing the challenges of Covid-19, it is extremely important to recognize the essential role that medical image plays in medicine, not only in an emergency like a pandemic, but also every day in different areas of patient care – one of them is interventional radiology, a unique and growing subspecialty.

The important discoveries of radiology

In Brazil, the scenario of the start and evolution of radiography began just two years after the discovery. The first radiography device arrived in the country brought by the doctor from Minas Gerais, José Carlos Ferreira Pires. It is also worth mentioning the discovery of Abreugrafia by the doctor Manuel de Abreu, between 1936 and 1937. The method was simple and objective for performing chest X-rays (several simultaneous cuts) and became known worldwide.

The English physicist Godfrey Hounsfield invented computed tomography in the 1970s at the company Electric & Musical Industries (EMI), which belonged to the rock group The Beatles. He also received the Nobel Prize in Medicine, in 1979. In the 1980s, magnetism came with the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, by scientists Paul Lauterbur, from the United States, and Peter Mansfield, from the United Kingdom. The technique earned them the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

During the history of the evolution of the area, mammography presented its digital version, which uses the same computed tomography’s principle. Thus, this date allows us to recall the discovery of so many diagnostic methods, techniques and equipment, which are essential for health. Therefore, the importance of the professional in the area is highlighted, based on the successful application and correct interpretation of images.

In Brazil, with the relevance and prominence of Radiology, in 2015, Law 13118/2015 was introduced, whose project was authored by the then Federal Deputy Eleuses Paiva, MD. Signed by former President Dilma Rousseff and then Health Minister Arthur Chioro, November 8 was certified as the Technician’s Day and Day of the Radiologist in the entire Brazilian national territory.

Thanks, radiology. Congratulations, radiologists!